Hans Hartung

"Scribbling, scratching, acting on the canvas, finally painting, seem to me as immediate, spontaneous and simple human activities as can be the song, dance or play of an animal running, pawing or shaking itself". In our opinion, these words of Hartung are to be considered enlightening to understand the meaning of his work, to identify the main expressive modes, to recognize the deepest motivations. His painting is a sort of direct recording of the psychic, physical and emotional reactions arising from the artist's relationship with reality; 'Upsets' that take shape through a visual code that has in the sign - whose innumerable identities Hartung investigates - his essential tool. If this expressive process, which defines his characteristics in the postwar years, leads the artist to become one of the leading exponents of the Informal, it also constitutes an evolution of his previous adherence to the sphere of lyrical abstraction. The relevance of his work with the poetic fields cited makes Hartung a radically alternative author to the non-figurative experiences of an analytic matrix - constructivism, suprematism, neoplasticism, concrete art - of which he did not fail to stigmatize the "dehumanizing rules". Realizzato in parte con la tecnica, di origine surrealista, del grattage, T1962-R39 accoglie un groviglio di segni dalle diverse qualità luminose, i quali divengono immagine di una metaforica contesa tra le forze della luce e quelle dell’ombra.